House of Commons - Constitutional Affairs

Select Committee on Constitutional Affairs Third Report

2 Objectives and tasks

Objective A: to examine and comment on the policy of the department

Task 2: To examine policy proposals from the UK Government and the European Commission in Green Papers, White Papers, draft Guidance etc, and to inquire further where the Committee considers it appropriate

8. As noted above, much of our work this year has been concerned with the very significant proposals for the abolition of the Lord Chancellor and the establishment of a judicial appointments commission and Supreme Court (court of final appeal). Consultation papers on these latter two were published in July;[10] rather than asking witnesses to duplicate their work by sending evidence direct to us, we received from the Department copies of all non-confidential responses to the consultation on these two subjects. We held a number of evidence sessions, including one at which the senior judges were able to comment on the proposals. We also held a separate evidence session on the Government's proposed options for the future of the Ecclesiastical appointments powers held by the Lord Chancellor. We adopted a similar approach to our brief inquiry into the Government's proposals for changes to publicly funded immigration and asylum work, based on a consultation paper published in June.[11]

9. We receive copies of a wide variety of papers produced by the Department: these are kept under review as they arrive to assess their significance and we will raise them with Ministers as appropriate.

Task 2: To identify and examine areas of emerging policy, or where existing policy is deficient, and make proposals

10. We made an early decision to examine the system for immigration and asylum appeals, which had been subject to considerable change in recent years and yet was still perceived as inefficient and wasteful. We have received a great deal of very valuable written evidence on the subject, but plans for early oral evidence sessions were overtaken by the announcement of the constitutional changes which we mention above. The Government's plans for further change to the immigration and asylum appeal structures mean that we are now trying to hit a moving target; but we completed our inquiries in time to inform Parliamentary consideration of the Bill implementing the latest set of changes. We have already undertaken a joint visit with the Foreign Affairs Committee to look at family visitor visa operations in India and Turkey, supplementing visits to the Immigration Appellate Authority operations at Taylor House in Islington and Hatton Cross, and all of these have been very useful to us in appreciating the problems facing the Department and the steps they are taking to tackle them, and the problems faced by applicants.

Task 3: To conduct scrutiny of any published draft bill within the Committee's responsibilities

11. Our first set of formal evidence sessions, and our first Report, concerned the Courts Bill, which implemented proposals for the creation of a unified Court Service. Although the Bill followed the report of the Auld Review of the criminal courts, and was prefigured in the White Paper Justice for All,[12] it was not itself published in draft. Rather, we conducted our scrutiny as the Bill was passing through the House of Lords. Although this meant that to some extent we were again dealing with a changing situation, as amendments were made in another place, we were able to produce a Report which was referred to extensively at Second Reading of the Bill in the Commons and was also used by Members at Committee and Report Stage. Whilst the publication of legislation in draft is clearly advantageous for select committee scrutiny, the approach we took in reporting on the Court Bill may commend itself to other Committees as a way of assisting consideration of Bills which have not been considered in draft.

12. We have not so far conducted scrutiny of any other draft legislation. The Department has published two Bills in draft form, but both have been subject to detailed scrutiny by Joint Committees (the draft Mental Incapacity Bill by an ad hoc Joint Committee; the draft Gender Recognition Bill by the Joint Committee on Human Rights). The Department also contributed to the draft Corruption Bill, although the lead Department was the Home Office. We have indicated our intention to carry out scrutiny of the draft Criminal Defence Service Bill.

Task 4: To examine specific output from the department expressed in documents or other decisions

13. The Department supplies the Committee with a wide variety of documents produced by the Department, ranging from research reports and statistical bulletins to Agency Reports and circulars. These are kept under review. In suitable cases we would consider taking oral or written evidence on them.

Objective B : to examine the expenditure of the department

Task 5: To examine the expenditure plans and out-turn of the department, its agencies and principal NDPBs

14. The Committee Office Scrutiny Unit assisted us with the scrutiny of the Spring Supplementary Estimates, bringing to our attention a number of matters which we raised with the Department in writing and subsequently with the Lord Chancellor himself in oral evidence.[13] Legal Aid is overwhelmingly the largest part of the Department's budget. We were particularly concerned by a significant overspend in this area, a matter which we pursued further at a later session with the Permanent Secretary on the Departmental Annual Report.[14] We will continue to keep a particularly close eye on legal aid expenditure, and indeed have subsequently done so through a one-off session with the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Legal Services Commission (see below). In the current session, the Committee will examine the availability of civil legal aid in specialist areas.

Objective C : to examine the administration of the department

Task 6: To examine the department's Public Service Agreements, the associated targets and the statistical measurements employed, and report if appropriate

15. We took written and oral evidence from the Department on the Departmental Annual Report,[15] a very productive exercise which we propose to repeat. As a recently established Committee, it has not been possible for us to discern trends or systematically to follow up lines of inquiry in the context of the department's Public Service Agreements and targets; but we have built on the valuable work done in previous years by the Home Affairs Committee and we hope over a period of time to be able to track progress against those targets.

Task 7: To monitor the work of the department's Executive Agencies, NDPBs, regulators and other associated public bodies

16. Our main project in this area was a detailed inquiry into the work of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS). CAFCASS was established in April 2001 and had been struggling ever since; our inquiry followed widespread concern which had been noted in sessions with the Lord Chancellor before the Home Affairs Committee. Our eventual report was followed by the departure of the Chairman of CAFCASS and, in response to one of our recommendations, a review of Board membership which prompted the requested resignation of the rest of the Board. Responsibility for CAFCASS has now been transferred to the Department for Education and Skills, under the Minister for Children. We hope that our Report will be the catalyst for significant change in the running of CAFCASS.

17. We have also taken evidence from the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Legal Services Commission in a wide-ranging session covering the whole of its work. Because Legal aid accounts for such a large part of the Department's budget, the Legal Services Commission has a vital role to play in the administration of the system which allows access to justice for some of the most vulnerable in our society. It must also account for very significant sums of public money. We will continue to look carefully at its work.

18. We also plan to conduct similar sessions with representatives of the other public bodies for which the Lord Chancellor is responsible and to provide a link between Parliament and two other important public office-holders associated with the Department, namely the Information Commissioner and the Electoral Commissioner.

Task 8: To scrutinise major appointments made by the department

19. The major appointment made during the past year was of course of the new Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer. We held an oral evidence session with him very shortly after his appointment, at which we discussed his plans for the new Department.[16]

20. We also held an evidence session with Mrs Clare Dodgson, the new Chief Executive of the Legal Services Commission: this took place in September following her taking up of her position in April. We are particularly grateful to the outgoing Chief Executive, Mr Steve Orchard, for submitting to us a "valedictory" memorandum which provided us with much useful material both for the session with his successor and for future scrutiny of the work of the LSC. This is another practice which we—and other Committees—may find useful in appropriate future circumstances.

Task 9: To examine the implementation of legislation and major policy initiatives

21. Since we have been established, the Department has been concerned chiefly with preparation for the implementation of policy initiatives, such as the unified Court Service and the creation of a Supreme Court, rather than in actual implementation. Implementation will, however, be an important part of the Department's work in coming months and years, and we shall be keeping a close eye on progress. It may be, for instance, that a review of the implementation of the Courts Act would be a useful exercise to undertake following our Report on the Bill this year.

Objective D: To assist the House in debate and decision

Task 10: To produce Reports which are suitable for debate in the House, including Westminster Hall, or debating committees

22. Our Report on the Courts Bill was "tagged" on the Order Paper at Report Stage and extensively referred to by hon. Members. Our Report on the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service was debated in Westminster Hall on 20 October. This was the first appearance of Mrs Hodge in her capacity as the Minister for Children. The Minutes of Evidence published in relation to our inquiry into the Judicial appointments and a Supreme Court (court of final appeal) were tagged on 16 December for a debate in Westminster Hall on the new Supreme Court.

All tasks: extent to which systematic structure is in place for meeting the indicative tasks listed, and response of department

23. We have not yet fully developed a systematic structure for meeting all the indicative tasks. The choice of inquiries has been made with a view to accomplishing the various core tasks defined for committees. We have used the Scrutiny Unit for monitoring the Estimates and have received comprehensive written replies from the Department. We plan to establish further systematic links with the Department in order to extend the range of work done to satisfy the requirements of the core tasks.

10 Constitutional reform: a new way of appointing judges, Department for Constitutional Affairs Consultation Paper CP 10/03 and Constitutional reform: a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom, Department for Constitutional Affairs Consultation Paper CP 11/03, July 2003 Back

11 Public Consultation on Proposed Changes to Publicly Funded Immigration and Asylum Work , Lord Chancellor's Department, June 2003 Back

12 Cm 5563, July 2002 Back

13 op cit Back

14 op cit Back